06
by Shea Fahlin
Summary: The story of my Superhero from Paragon City City of Heroes comics. Rated PG13 because it can be violent at times, and there may be occasional bad language. Rewrite in progress!
1. 00001: All Systems Active

Thomas Maarlynd looked down upon the city from high in the corporate headquarters of Genetic Alternatives. The pale moon shone over the twisted streets, and the headlights upon the cars of the busy populace looked from this distance no more than so many firefly lights. From here, it was as if a single hand could reach out and pick up the city, cradling it protectively… or crushing it…

He walked slowly over to the phone upon his desk. Halfway through the action of reaching down to it, he paused… seemed lost in thought for a moment… then appeared to reach a decision as he pressed the white intercom button. "Marcus, send the division leaders to my office, please… we have a lot to discuss. A new business proposal, if you will."

* * *

**06

* * *

**

BEGIN CHAPTER 00001 **All Systems Active**

The story begins in a dark room. Not pitch black – just dusky, as if it were meant to be fully lit but there wasn't enough light go around. In the center of the room stood many large pieces of metal, copper tubes, strange whirring devices, and the like. There also stood a table, looking much like a relic from a Frankenstein play, complete with a body upon it. There also stood a man.

He was moderately short, and was hunched over an important-looking device. He was outfitted in a lab coat, which perhaps was white once, but was now covered over in dirt, bits of rust, oil stains, and several burn marks over areas of scabbed flesh.

This hunched man, looking as if the world had owed him a good beating and had just paid up, had a name. His name was Adrian Manisto, though most people who knew him called him Professor Manisto. At least, they had, back before the war with the Rikti.

Having finished fiddling with the odd device, he shut the lid and took a moment to rest and reflect. He was still amazed that he had survived the war – hiding in the basement of Juro Cybernetics Corporation, he had heard quite clearly the shouts and screams of his fellows, the sounds of the Rikti scouring the building, the gunfire and blaster fire and who-knows-what-else-fire… then finally, the welcome sound of search parties looking for survivors.

The world had changed during the War. The police, the military, the militia… all destroyed. Even the mighty Superheroes of the world were nearly exterminated… of the whole, only 8 survived. The people were a mass of panic, anxiety, exhaustion, and apathy. But the war was won, and the people began the slow process of rebuilding.

The professor looked down at the body on the table. It, too, was made of metal, and full of odd whirring parts. A robot, indeed probably the most advanced robot ever to exist in this day and age, short of the Rikti drones. It was the newest Juro Cybernetics model, and the only one that hadn't been destroyed in the war. An ACA/Au, Advanced Character Assassination / Assault unit, designated unit number 06. Manisto had scoured the junkyards of the city, raided the old abandoned robotics labs, picked up or in some cases hotwired military equipment, and even gotten his hands on a deactivated Rikti drone, all in order to repair, and improve, this robot. Top of the line weaponry, sophisticated bioemulatory processing center, and a Rikti nuclear-powered battery pack were all counted among this unit's formidable arsenal.

Now to see if it would turn on…

Manisto finished inserting the power bypass device, and closed the chest panel of the robot. With the air of someone about to hesitantly push a rather large red button, the Professor rather hesitantly pushed the rather large red button.

_082839912819388292-10293273409  
_**SERIAL CODE ACCEPTED**  
BEGIN SYSTEM CHECK  
_:POWER:VISUAL:MOTOR:LOGIC:SONIC:RADAR:COMBAT:CLOAK:EMULATION  
_**ALL SYSTEMS OPERATIONAL 100 CAPACITY**  
SELF SCAN  
SELF SCAN DATA UPLOAD  
_MODEL ACA/Au : DESIGNATION 06 : CLASSIFICATION COMBAT  
_RUN PROGRAM  
RUN PROGRAM INTRODUCTION

A series of creaks announced the robot's shift of posture to one more vertical. The blank metal faceplate turned to stare directly at Manisto, sensors underneath taking in the light in ranges from deep infrared to a modicum of ultraviolet. From the metal grille over where a human would usually keep its mouth, a metallic voice issued forth.

"Greetings. This unit is classification Advanced Character Assassination Assault unit number Zero Six. This unit is ready to begin task processing upon command. Please clarify owner/operator of this unit."

The nervousness on Adrian's face disappeared in an instant, to be replaced with a look of utter triumph. "Your owner is Professor Adrian Manisto. Your operator will be yourself."


	2. 00010: Prime Directive

BEGIN CHAPTER 00010 **Prime Directive**  
"Please confirm," the robot replied. "Owner is Professor Adrian Manisto. Operator is Your Self."

The professor gave the robot a rather confused look. He repeated the words to himself, then without warning, erupted into laughter. "This may be tougher than I thought!" he said, still chuckling to himself. "Let me clarify: Your owner is indeed Professor Adrian Manisto. That would be me. You will be self-operated. Your self-diagnostic should have activated your artificial intelligence chip."

The robot gave a passably humanlike nod, then said in its metallic voice, "System confirmed. This unit is owned by Professor Adrian Manisto, and is self-operated. Professor Adrian Manisto, please provide a prime directive to operate within."

Manisto turned, and looked out a window. Some distance away, over the harbor, sprawled Paragon City. It towered high into the air, the new Rikti-inspired force walls still under construction. The buildings seemed covered in a layer of grunge, and even from here across the harbor he could here the sounds of the bustling populace. He gazed in silence for a moment, and then spoke.

"That is a question I have been pondering for some time now. It certainly wouldn't do to have you do menial work, hard labor, or anything of the sort. Your core programming is far too advanced to be put to such simplistic use. No, I think something more... drastic is in order."

He turned to the robot. "Paragon City is in turmoil. We're in the wake of a mighty war, and more problems just keep popping up. City Hall sent an order to us for ACA/Au models during the war, but the models were incomplete and never got shipped out… It is my belief that you should fulfill the role that the ACA/Au line was supposed to fulfill. Unit ACAAu-06, your prime directive is to protect Paragon City and its civilian inhabitants. There are many problems; Crimes, cults, Rikti survivors, all of them threatening the city and its inhabitants. It will be your job to stop them." He smiled at the robot, a small smile, half-sad smile. "You may use the Military Specialist 7 Assault Rifle on the table there—it's been recalibrated to use tranquilizer bullets. Keep the people safe."

"Prime directive acquired. Processing... accepted. Prime Directive: Defend Paragon City and its inhabitants." The robot reached over, picked up the 20 lb. MS7AR and slung it easily over its shoulder. It then got up, and began walking toward the door. A few feet from it, the robot stopped, and spoke.

"Owner Professor Adrian Manisto."

"Yes?"

"This unit may be referred to as 'Ace.'"

* * *

She had seen them before. They called themselves the Hellions, or the Blood Brothers, depending on who you spoke to. They wore red and scarves over their faces. She knew because she was staring this one in the face. "C'mon, lady, just give it up already!" the thug said, one hand tugging at Sophie's purse while the other waved a pistol in her face. "I don't want to kill you and you don't want to die, right?"

"Please, just let me go!" Sophie screamed. She tried to turn and run, but the Hellion's grip on her purse prevented her from running, and in any case there was another of the street thugs guarding the exit to the alley. "Why are you doing this?"

"Because," the other Hellion said, cleaning his gun with an air that said the entire affair was boring and not worth his time, "We need the money. Now, just hand it over like a good little girl."

"This is crazy! I'm just trying to get home… just let me go!" Sophie replied. "Where are the police when you need them?"

"Lady, just hand the damn thing over before I get angry!" the first Hellion said, pressing his handgun against her temple while his buddy turned away to avoid the inevitable spray of blood.

There was a loud gunshot, and then a thud. It took Sophie a moment to realize the bullet hadn't hit her, and the thud was not her falling. She opened her eyes, and saw the Hellion lying on the ground, eyes open and gazing at her, a bullet hole in his back. "Oh my god... is he dead?" she said aloud. The other hellion stared, wide-eyed, at his companion now lying on the dirt-covered concrete of the alleyway.

"Negative," a strange, almost metallic voice replied. "The bullet was non-lethal; the target is unconscious and will revive within four hours. However, by that time he will be relocated to the Paragon City Penitentiary." Sophie looked up, a thanks coming to her lips, but it died before it escaped her mouth. Her eyes widened at what she saw.

Standing above her was a man-shaped object. Its arms were simply metal poles with wires running between and past them. Its legs were solid metal, deep gray, with vents along the sides. Its chest was black metal as well, with several lights glowing along the left shoulder, and two more vents on the chest. However, the strangest part was its face… or lack thereof... Where its face should be was merely a smooth metal helm with an antenna, and a grating through which the strange, metallic voice issued forth; the entire effect was completely inhuman, and for Sophie, completely terrifying.

She screamed. Loudly.

Though the metal face could not change, the strange creature seemed, somehow, surprised and puzzled. It watched Sophie, who continued screaming and began stumbling backwards until she hit the wall behind her.

The Hellion behind Sophie suddenly came to his senses. Pulling out a handgun, he shouted, "You FREAK!" and began firing at the creature. His aim was decent, but the bullets simply pinged harmlessly of the metal casing of the man-like object, which proceeded to unsling the largest rifle Sophie had ever seen. It also happened to be the largest rifle the Hellion had ever seen, which probably contributed both to his dropping his weapon, and to his sudden inability to control his bladder.

Another gunshot rang out, with the distinct sound of finality, and the second Hellion dropped to the ground. Slinging its rifle, the creature turned to Sophie...

...and held out its hand to her. She hesitated, then, deciding that it meant her no harm, she took the offered hand. It took the thing seemingly no effort to pick her up off the ground. "You are not hurt, citizen?" it asked her.

"I'm... I'm ok," Sophie replied hesitantly. "I'm a bit shaky, but otherwise, ok." She dusted herself off, and reached down to pick up her purse, which had fallen during her frantic retreat. When she looked up again, the creature had turned to leave. Sophie realized she still thought of it as 'the creature', though by now she didn't doubt that it was some sort of robot.

"Wait!" she shouted. The robot turned to her, and stopped, waiting patiently while she collected her thoughts. "I… I wanted to thank you," she proceeded, "for saving my life. And I'd like to apologize for my reaction to you. What's your name?"

Despite having a featureless faceplate, Sophie couldn't shake the feeling that the robot was examining her. Finally, it replied, "This unit is classification ACA/Au-06. However, you may call me Ace."

"Ace... That's a nice name, I suppose. Well, Ace, my name is Sophie." She paused, and waited for some sort of reply, but Ace simply stood waiting. After a moment, she realized that she had given it a direct order - to wait - and it was doing just that. "Thank you again for all your help tonight, and good luck out there. That's all I wanted to say..."

On that note, Ace turned and left.

Sophie watched him walking away, then composed herself. She bent and picked up her purse, then jumped up, startled, as the bodies of the two Hellions faded away. Again, she composed herself, reasoning out that the bodies must have been sent via the new teleportation grid in the city, probably to the jailhouse.

As she walked out of the alley and proceeded on her way home, she carefully contemplated what had happened. And she smiled.

* * *


	3. 00011: Paragon Superhero

BEGIN CHAPTER 00011 **Paragon Superhero**

In Professor Manisto's laboratory, there was a SATA-2 hard drive which was not connected to any computer. It was stationed next to a large metal adapter, which was in turn connected to a wall socket. Interestingly, nothing else in the laboratory was connected to the city's power grid - it was all run via an advanced generator of Manisto's own design. However, this one device required access to the power grid of the city, because Manisto's own generator was incapable of generating enough power to run the device which connected to the adapter.

The device which connected to the adapter was, of course, Ace.

This was not strictly necessary - the power source which was integrated into Ace's hardware generated many hundreds of times what was necessary to run Ace, and was good for many thousands of years longer than the human race is likely to be around, especially if it continues going in the direction it's going. But that is neither here nor there. The reasoning behind the adapter stems from before Manisto found the rikti power source, and the reason for keeping the adapter was to recharge Ace's backup battery.

The hard drive was to store information about what Ace was doing each day. It contained at present a week's worth of information, the grand majority of which dealt with crimes stopped.

Ace stood by the drive, uploading information about the latest crimes stopped - a dozen robberies, two break-ins, one attempted arson, and a mob-related murder which Ace unfortunately arrived too late to stop. As the information was being uploaded, Ace was reviewing it as well. After a week, the self-programming system had reached a higher level of complexity than projected, and the unit had begun considering strategies on how to locate crime in advance - the emotion synthesis subroutines had finally offered up the first synthesized emotion, sadness, when Ace encountered the murder victim, and it was not an emotion that Ace cared to process again.

When the upload completed, Ace bade farewell to Manisto - a human pleasantry that Ace was programmed to indulge in, but one which his emotion synthesis subroutines were examining for better understanding of the emotion 'friendliness' - and took off over the port, heading back towards Paragon City proper. It had come to the conclusion that the majority of crimes occured in alleyways and areas of high population density, and so was intending to scan the area designated "King's Row" for signs that may indicate crime in process.

* * *

Fifteen minutes into the scan, Ace landed in the entrance to an alleyway. Ahead of him, two people in white jackets and skull masks, one with a knife and one with a fire ax, were engaged in combat with a third person, dressed in baggy jeans and tank top and wielding what appeared to be a Japanese 'katana' sword. This was a situation Ace had not yet encountered - whenever it had engaged fighting humans, there had always been one or more attacking unarmed civilians, never a fight between fighters who all resembled gang members. Unsure of whom to arrest, Ace engaged a secondary tactic.

"Stop fighting and drop your weapons!" he said, his vocoder projecting the sound at shouting volume.

The fighters ignored him completely. The man with the katana whirled about, knocking the knife-fighter's weapon aside and sweeping his legs. Ace was surprised to see the katana pass entirely through the legs without damaging them, and even more surprised to see the knife-fighter fall to the ground, screaming, as if his legs had actually been cut off. While he was attempting to process what appeared to be a violation of physical laws, the ax-fighter fell as well, the katana having passed through his neck without causing anything more than unconsciousness.

The katana fighter checked his sword, then sheathed it and turned to Ace. He had long, unruly hair under a red bandana, deep blue sunglasses and appeared to be grinning. "Sorry to ignore you, man, but dropping your weapon isn't the best option in a fight," he called out. He nudged one of the defeated fighters with a shoe. "You with them?"

Ace approached him cautiously, weapon still drawn but held in what his interaction subprocesses suggested would be a non-threatening position. "I am not with them," he replied. "You have demonstrated violence towards citizens of Paragon City - are you a criminal?"

The man chuckled and shook his head. "A robot, huh? Man, the stuff you see in Paragon City..." He dug around in his pockets for a moment, pulling out a laminated piece of paper and holding it out. "Not me, friend - name's Corrigan, licensed Superhero. I take it you're in the program, too?"

Ace took the piece of paper and scanned it. It read:

**Paragon Superhero Initiative**

Superhero Identification Certificate H-00108871

The bearer of this certificate, _Corrigan Easton_, is registered as a Superhero of Paragon City, Rhode Island, with the registered superpower of _Spontaneous Regeneration_, charged with the duty of patrolling Paragon City, stopping crime and arresting criminals, and is authorized to use non-lethal force in the execution of this duty.

This was followed by a short list of personal information, and signed by the mayor and the Head of Superhero Relations. Ace filed away the information. "This unit is not registered as a Superhero. This unit will attempt to acquire registration. It is a pleasure to meet you, Superhero Corrigan Easton."

Corrigan grinned and held out his hand. "Pleasure's all mine, my metallic friend. You got a name, or a designation, or somesuch?"

Ace nodded and took the proffered hand, careful to apply minimum force to the human interaction. "This unit is designated ACA/Au-06, but you may refer to me as Ace."

* * *

A dozen rounds streaked through the air, impacting the target in a grouping a quarter could cover. The men in the room - several police, a city counselor, two D.A.T.A. technicians, and the Head of Superhero Relations - all burst into applause. "Fantastic, Ace," the counselor said, "I could hardly make a closer grouping myself at that range!"

Ace shouldered his rifle and turned to the group of people. His subroutines made note of the significant difference between this and most of his other encounters with humans - nearly all of those encounters had ended with, or encountered somewhere along the line, fear. His emotion synthesis subroutine activated a beta version of Pride, which appeared to be a positive emotion. "Thank you," he replied to the counselor. "This unit has your approval?"

The data technicians talked amongst themselves for a moment, then turned and said, "We've reviewed your programming and talked with Professor Manisto. With the permission of Mister Wolfe, we think you'd make a fine addition to the ranks of the Paragon superheroes. You should be aware that we have several other self-aware robots among our ranks - some of them may be able to help you significantly."

Pleasantries were exchanged, papers were signed (Ace, spontaneously, designed his own personal signature), and less than an hour later, Ace was back to patrolling the streets... this time, with a laminated piece of paper that declared him a registered Superhero of Paragon City.

* * *


End file.
